(b) Proposed Decision on the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument for immediate budgetary measures under the EU Agenda on Migration in connection with (a)

Legal base

(a) Article 314 TFEU and 106a, EURATOM Treaty; co-decision; QMV

(b) Point 12 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 on budgetary discipline and on cooperation in budgetary matters; ; QMV

Department

HM Treasury

Document Numbers

(a) (37122), 12502/15 + ADD 1, COM(15) 485;

(b) (37123), 12503/15, COM(15) 486

Summary and Committee's conclusions

30.1 Draft Amending Budget No. 7 to the General Budget 2015 is
to provide additional funds to allow for the implementation of
immediate measures in the remaining months of 2015, as set out
in the Commission Communication Managing the refugee crisis:
immediate operational, budgetary and legal measures under the
European Agenda on Migration. The Draft Amending Budget seeks
an additional 331 million (£244 million) in commitment
appropriations beyond the agreed budget for 2015. Of these new
appropriations, 66.1 million (£49 million) would be
mobilised through the Flexibility Instrument, in order to allow
additional funding beyond the Multiannual Financial Framework
commitment ceiling. The Draft Amending Budget does not seek additional
payment appropriations as payment needs will be met by redeployment
within the existing Budget.

30.2 The Government tells us that it supports the
principle and objectives of this package in seeking to provide
additional funds to manage the refugee crisis, noting that this
reflects the Prime Minister's agreement on the need for bold,
concerted action at EU level to address the situation. It also
notes that the Commission has found half of the commitments necessary
to fund the migration proposals in 2015 from reprioritisations,
and has also identified redeployments to avoid the need for additional
payment appropriations this year. It comments that this is in
line with the Government's view that the Commission should look
for reallocations before coming to Member States with requests
for new money.

30.3 The Government tells us that the Draft Amending
Budget was adopted by the Council on 8 October, whilst the matter
was still under our scrutiny.

30.4 We note that the appropriations proposed
in the Draft Amending Budget are in accordance with measures supported
by the Government at the 23 September informal European Council
and that it is satisfied that the Commission has used the scope
for redeployment within the existing 2015 Budget. Accordingly
we clear the Draft Amending Budget from scrutiny. We understand
that the Council also adopted the complementary Decision on use
of the Flexibility Instrument on 8 October and clear that document
too from scrutiny.

30.5 As for the breach of the Scrutiny Reserve
Resolution, whilst this is regrettable we recognise that, given
the Conference Recess, it was unavoidable.

Full
details of the documents:
(a) Draft Amending Budget
No. 7 to the General Budget 2015: Managing the refugee crisis:
immediate budgetary measures under the European Agenda on Migration:
(37122), 12502/15, COM(15) 485; (b) Proposal for a Decision on
the Mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument for immediate budgetary
measures under the European Agenda on Migration: (37123), 12503/15,
COM(15) 486.

Background

30.6 In May the Commission published a Communication
A European Agenda on Migration,[175]
which partially informed European Council discussion of the migration
crisis on 25 and 26 June.[176]
There was further discussion of the migration crisis at the informal
European Council of 23 September when it was decided, based on
the Commission Communication Managing
the refugee crisis: immediate operational, budgetary and legal
measures under the European Agenda on Migration,[177]
that the EU would:

· respond
to the urgent needs of Syrian refugees in the region by helping
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food
Programme and other agencies with at least an additional 1
billion (£738.5 million);

· assist
Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and other countries in dealing with the
Syrian refugee crisis, including through a substantial increase
of the EU's Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian Crisis
(the Madad Trust Fund);

· reinforce
dialogue with Turkey at all levels, in order to strengthen cooperation
on stemming and managing the migratory flows;

· assist
the Western Balkan countries in handling the refugee flows, including
through pre-accession instruments, as well as ensure a speedy
and solid preparation of the 8 October Western Balkans route conference;

· increase
the funding of the Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing
the root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in
Africa through additional contributions by Member States, and
ensure an optimal preparation of the 11-12 November Valletta Summit
in order to achieve maximum progress;

· tackle
the situation at the EU external borders and strengthen controls
at those borders, including through additional resources for Frontex,
the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and Europol, and with
personnel and equipment from Member States;

· meet
requests from front-line Member States for assistance by the institutions,
the agencies and other Member States in order to ensure identification,
registration and fingerprinting of migrants (hotspots) and at
the same time ensure relocation and returns, at the latest by
November 2015; and

· enhance
the funding of the Emergency Fund for Asylum, Integration and
Migration and the Internal Security Fund (ISF)-Borders.[178]

The documents

30.7 Draft Amending Budget No. 7 to the General Budget
2015 (DAB No. 7/2015), document (a), is to provide additional
funds to allow for the implementation of immediate measures in
the remaining months of 2015, as set out in the Commission Communication
Managing the refugee crisis:
immediate operational, budgetary and legal measures under the
European Agenda on Migration.
This entails additional appropriations for emergency assistance
under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and ISF,
additional posts for Frontex, the EASO and EUROPOL and further
funding for humanitarian aid, including through the European Neighbourhood
Instrument (ENI). The DAB seeks an additional 331 million
(£244 million) in commitment appropriations beyond the agreed
budget for 2015. Of these new appropriations, 66.1 million
(£49 million) would be mobilised through the Flexibility
Instrument,[179] as
in document (b), in order to allow additional funding for Heading
3 beyond the Multiannual Financial Framework commitment ceiling.
The DAB does not seek additional payment appropriations as payment
needs will be met by redeployment within the existing Budget.

30.8 The additional appropriations proposed for 2015
are as follows:

· increased
commitment appropriations under AMIF of 80 million (£59
million) and under ISF of 20 million (£15 million)
to provide emergency assistance to frontline Member States and
support implementation of the 'hotspots' approach, which aims
to enable swift registration and processing of migrants on arrival.
The funds would be used to meet requests for emergency assistance
from Member States and to ensure a coordinated approach;

· an additional
1.3 million (£960,000) in commitment and payment appropriations
to fund an additional 120 posts in the EU's key migration agencies,
Frontex (60 posts), EASO (30 posts) and Europol (30 posts). This
is in response to a need for increased operational and cooperation
activities to disrupt trafficking and support returns (Frontex
and EUROPOL) and to support processing of asylum applications
(EASO). The funds would cover one month's remuneration for the
new staff in 2015; and

· an additional
300 million (£222 million) in commitment appropriations
to increase the funding of the ENI, which would allow for an increase
to the Madad Trust Fund to support refugees from Syria. 55.7m
(£41m) in payments would be redeployed to cover the most
urgent humanitarian needs of people fleeing the conflict in the
region. while the remaining 200 million in commitments allocations
available in 2015 would also be used for this purpose, through
a transfer from the Emergency Aid Reserve.

30.9 The total required to cover these measures is
401.3 million (£296 million) in commitment and 57
million (£42 million) in payment appropriations. 70.5
million (£52 million) in commitment and all payment appropriations
would be redeployed from the EU Solidarity Fund Reserve for advances
and other budget lines in Heading 2 and 3. The remaining funds
would be found through the 331 million (£244 million)
in new commitment appropriations in DAB No. 7/2015, of which 66
million (£49 million) is to be mobilised through the Flexibility
Instrument. (Separately, the Commission is requesting transfers
of commitment appropriations from the Emergency Aid Reserve, totalling
200m (£148m), for humanitarian aid to displaced people
fleeing the conflict in Syria.)

30.10 Most of the redeployments of the payment appropriations
are drawn from, in addition to the EU Solidarity Fund Reserve
for advances, a number of budget lines in Heading 2 and 3, namely
the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the European
Agricultural Guarantee Fund, the European Maritime and Fisheries
Fund, the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements and the
Food and Feed programme. The Commission notes that redeployments
are possible due to delays or rescheduling of programmes and lower
than expected requests from Member States.

The Government's view

30.11 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 5 October
2015 the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke),
noting that the Prime Minister has agreed there is a need for
bold, concerted action to manage the refugee crisis, in particular
to stabilise the countries and regions from which the refugees
are coming, says that:

· the
Government welcomes the fact that the majority of the deployment
of funds before the end of this year is to address urgent humanitarian
needs;

· its
view is that the Commission should always look first to reallocate
funds from within existing agreed budgets to meet emerging in-year
pressures, rather than coming to Member States to request additional
money;

· the
funding of commitment appropriations in DAB No. 7/2015 consists
of a combination of redeployment and new appropriations;

· the
Government notes that the funding of payment appropriations in
DAB No. 7/2015 consists solely of redeployments;

· the
UK's post-abatement financing share of EU expenditure is approximately
12%  the amount will depend on actual budgetary outturns;
and

· a large
proportion of the additional expenditure is likely to constitute
Official Development Assistance.

30.12 In his letter of 5 October 2015 the Minister
tells us that:

· in
view of the urgency of the situation, the Commission proposed
expediting the timetable for consideration of DAB No. 7/2015;

· a vote
on expediting the DAB was to take place at COREPER on 7 October,
while final agreement on the substance was expected to be reached
at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 8 October;

· the
Government agreed that this matter was urgent, and therefore intended
to vote in favour of expediting the decision-making process for
this DAB;

· he regretted
that this expedited timetable would leave no opportunity for us
to scrutinise this DAB proposal, because of the Conference Recess;
and

· he would
however write to us to set out the Government's position on the
DAB No. 7/2015 as soon as he was in a position to do so.

30.13 In his letter of 12 October 2015 the Minister
says that the Government supports the principle and objectives
of DAB No. 7/2015 in seeking to provide additional funds to manage
the refugee crisis, noting that this reflects the Prime Minister's
agreement on the need for bold, concerted action at EU level to
address the situation.

30.14 Reporting that the DAB did indeed go to the
Justice and Home Affairs Council for approval on 8 October, the
Minister says that the Government voted in favour of it on a number
of grounds. He continues that it will fund measures which the
Government supports, explaining that:

· the
majority of DAB No. 7/2015 will boost EU contributions to the
Madad Trust Fund and humanitarian aid through the UNHCR and World
Food Programme, which will help address the root causes of the
migration crisis;

· after
the United States, the UK is the biggest donor of aid to Syria
and is the EU's biggest donor to the World Food Programme;

· the
aid elements of the DAB spending will count as ODA (Overseas Development
Aid) spend;

· most
of the remainder will be used to provide emergency assistance
to frontline Member States to enable the swift processing of arriving
migrants and increase resources for Frontex and other EU agencies
involved in migration;

· the
UK makes a separate bilateral contribution to Frontex and earlier
in the year the Prime Minister committed to increase this contribution;

· 80%
of this emergency funding will be used to increase funding to
the AMIF which aims to promote legal migration, safe return of
illegal migrants, and effective integration of non-EU nationals
 objectives which the Government supports; and

· the
UK has opted into this fund and benefits from the largest national
allocation in the EU.

30.15 The Minister repeats the point in his Explanatory
Memorandum that the Government notes that the Commission has found
half of the commitments necessary to fund these migration proposals
in 2015 from reprioritisations, and has also identified redeployments
to avoid the need for additional payment appropriations this year.
He comments that this is in line with the Government's view that
the Commission should look for reallocations before coming to
Member States with requests for new money.

30.16 The Minister states that, given the urgency
of the matter and the fact that we were not to meet until 14 October,
it was necessary to override scrutiny in order to vote in favour
of the proposals.

30.17 Finally the Minister notes that migration issues
will also affect the 2016 Draft Budget and that he will be writing
to us separately about the ongoing 2016 budget negotiations.